Northport and Westports merger on backburner
The proposed merger of Port Klang's two private operators - Northport and Westports - has been put on ice. There was some talk about it a few years ago but it is no longer in discussion now, Northport chief executive officer Basheer Hassan Abdul Kader said.
Industry sources said if there were to be a takeover at all most probably Westports would take over Northport as the latter terminal, although in existence for the last 30 years, cannot expand any further because of a lack of land space. It can handle no more than four million TEUs annually.
Westports, on the other hand, has raised its capacity to six million TEUs from five million in 2005 and has growth potential to handle 10 million TEUs in the next five years. Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa has a 30 percent stake in Westports.
Malaysian ports last year chalked up a 12.9 percent increase in volume to 13.6 million TEUs from 12 million TEUs in 2005 with Westports contributing 25.9 percent to the growth, Port of Tanjung Pelepas, 14.3 percent and Bintulu Port 13.7 percent. Westports recorded a 26 percent growth in volume by handling 3.7 million TEUs compared with 2.9 million TEUs in 2005. The growth was attributed to the new measures introduced by the terminal operator as well as going electronic to improve services for shipping lines.
Meanwhile, Northport, operated by NCB Holdings, aims to handle three million TEUs this year, 13 percent more than the 2.66 million TEUs it handled last year.
"Northport is registering growth of four to five per cent per year in line with the country's robust import and export performance," Basheer said after a seminar on Northport's 21 years after privatisation.
NCB chairman Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid said its US$144 million initiative to upgrade the port is 50 per cent completed and should reach full completion by year-end. "We are in the midst of deepening the north channel to 15m from 11m so that bigger ships can call in as well as lengthening our wharves.''
He said NCB's road haulage subsidiary, Kontena Nasional, is also streamlining its activities such as buying 120 prime movers, installing electronic tracking systems for goods as well as establishing joint ventures with high cargo volume companies such as Ikea.
With a handling capacity of four million TEUs, Northport is able to accommodate 70 shipping companies at any one time.
Basheer said the last five years have been good to Northport and the next five years are expected to be equally rosy in line with the country's economic growth.
He said Port Klang is positioned strategically to cater to fast-growth shipping lanes such as ships from southern Thailand sailing east or Vietnamese boats stopping over at Northport before going to Europe.
He also said Northport is unfazed by competition from Singapore as the former caters to regional niche markets, such as feeder ships operating in the area, and offers competitive freight-handling rates.
Anyway, all the ports in the region will benefit from China's growth such as in the 1980s, when foreign direct investments poured in and all the ports in the region registered double-digit growth," he concluded.
Industry sources said if there were to be a takeover at all most probably Westports would take over Northport as the latter terminal, although in existence for the last 30 years, cannot expand any further because of a lack of land space. It can handle no more than four million TEUs annually.
Westports, on the other hand, has raised its capacity to six million TEUs from five million in 2005 and has growth potential to handle 10 million TEUs in the next five years. Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa has a 30 percent stake in Westports.
Malaysian ports last year chalked up a 12.9 percent increase in volume to 13.6 million TEUs from 12 million TEUs in 2005 with Westports contributing 25.9 percent to the growth, Port of Tanjung Pelepas, 14.3 percent and Bintulu Port 13.7 percent. Westports recorded a 26 percent growth in volume by handling 3.7 million TEUs compared with 2.9 million TEUs in 2005. The growth was attributed to the new measures introduced by the terminal operator as well as going electronic to improve services for shipping lines.
Meanwhile, Northport, operated by NCB Holdings, aims to handle three million TEUs this year, 13 percent more than the 2.66 million TEUs it handled last year.
"Northport is registering growth of four to five per cent per year in line with the country's robust import and export performance," Basheer said after a seminar on Northport's 21 years after privatisation.
NCB chairman Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid said its US$144 million initiative to upgrade the port is 50 per cent completed and should reach full completion by year-end. "We are in the midst of deepening the north channel to 15m from 11m so that bigger ships can call in as well as lengthening our wharves.''
He said NCB's road haulage subsidiary, Kontena Nasional, is also streamlining its activities such as buying 120 prime movers, installing electronic tracking systems for goods as well as establishing joint ventures with high cargo volume companies such as Ikea.
With a handling capacity of four million TEUs, Northport is able to accommodate 70 shipping companies at any one time.
Basheer said the last five years have been good to Northport and the next five years are expected to be equally rosy in line with the country's economic growth.
He said Port Klang is positioned strategically to cater to fast-growth shipping lanes such as ships from southern Thailand sailing east or Vietnamese boats stopping over at Northport before going to Europe.
He also said Northport is unfazed by competition from Singapore as the former caters to regional niche markets, such as feeder ships operating in the area, and offers competitive freight-handling rates.
Anyway, all the ports in the region will benefit from China's growth such as in the 1980s, when foreign direct investments poured in and all the ports in the region registered double-digit growth," he concluded.